We are all more ignorant than any of us realize. Yet, we all have a potential for more understanding and intelligence than we realize, or believe. The legitimate pursuits of civilization will eventually reveal the destiny of mankind. Whether this is all there is, “here today, gone ...
New Yorkers who just paid their taxes have got to be wondering why they let their schools spend beyond any sense of decency. Consider the spending orgy. Emma Brown writing in The Washington Post report that in 2013, the U.S. states’ education spending averaged $10,700. This is generous. ...
Whatever happened to the real Democratic party and common sense in Washington, D.C.? Fifty years ago, the Democratic Party represented the working class. Somewhere during that period of time, something went wrong with the party. It was infiltrated by radical and liberal ways of thinking. The ...
Funny, isn’t it? Some of those who never foresaw the election of Donald Trump continue to try to explain why he won. Yet many of them don’t grasp that this first-time candidate uniquely had his finger on the electorate’s pulse. Nor do they grasp what has been on this page over the ...
I read the Publisher’s notebook by John D’Agostino in the Jan. 6 edition of the Dunkirk OBSERVER referring to the garbage collection staff. I am a 15-year retiree from the Dunkirk Public Works Department, in which I was hired and immediately put on the garbage and rubbish collection ...
I wish a Silver Creek resident who wrote a letter to the OBSERVER had done a study of the intersection at Routes 20 and 60 before writing his recent comments. He would have seen we need the traffic signals. It lets vehicles exit the many businesses on such busy highways. You cannot compare ...
It always amazes me that people who live and drive in snowy latitudes have such short memories. From one season to the next, the ability to slow down, brake gently and leave enough room between vehicles seems to elude drivers. There are times I must go out in the worst of conditions, and ...
When folks do not have jobs that support families and offer benefits, their access to health care becomes especially critical to their own and their family’s financial well-being, as well as to their physical and mental health. The single most critical factor between bankruptcy and ...
In Bible class Sunday I said something and my teacher, Rick, said I should write a column about it. We were talking about death and how people say, “I know just how you feel,” and they never had a death experience. I found this out when my son Rusty died. After that when I heard about a ...
A recent contributor to these pages made a series of claims that need to be addressed in the print edition. The first was that there was some confusion between liberal politics and Christianity, the latter being somehow superior. I question what about liberal politics is against ...
It’s a harmless little tag, to be sure, and probably helps keep the peasants from starving. Only — harmless or not — I find those little stickers on my fruit to be a royal pain. The geography lesson escapes me since I have to unpeel each label from its skin — so far apple, pear, ...
Reality is a funny concept. We live in a world of pluralities too often reduced to dualities. Perception of any phenomenon seems to allow for only two possibilities — pro or con, either-or. Good or bad, for or against. This is a distinctly Western way of looking at our world. It would ...
We are one nation, one state, one county and shouldn’t we be one community? So much has been said and written lately, whether by the editorial in the OBSERVER, the recent message from the Chamber of Commerce, or the governor’s State of the State address, it is time to come together. We must ...
“There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line—no matter how big the lie; repeat it often ...
Most steep hills, tops of cliffs, and even mountain tops are within reach, but you need to keep climbing, step by step. I learned this early in my youth, having spent my childhood in the highest location in the Boston Hills. I also learned not to be discouraged with challenges but, to be moved ...
The Union Relief Christmas Project has been completed for this year. We are so grateful for the support of our community! This year, we were able to provide food, clothing, gifts and toys to 41 seniors, 59 families and 140 children this year. Thank you to everyone who had a part in our two ...
The U.S. Constitution is the closest thing to a sacred text allowed in a secular republic. It is treated with reverence, stored in a helium-filled, temperature-controlled case that is lowered every night into a waterproof, fireproof and bombproof vault. Like Holy Writ, the Constitution also ...
Donations are library investment Editor, OBSERVER: The Gowanda Free Library would like to recognize certain members of the community who still believe that their public library is a valuable resource for their community. Recently the library conducted our annual mail solicitation ...
By WILFRED ROSAS On the third Monday of January each year, we celebrate a day of remembrance for Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was known for his spirit of altruism and peace in the face of diversity. He called upon all of America to embrace love above hate, and giving above taking. He was ...
All this cold weather, wind and snow has reminded me of all the years we walked to school. We even had to walk home to eat. We couldn’t take our lunch. It had to be an emergency. Can you picture us kids walking home to eat and then walking back? When it was windy, we’d walk backwards. That ...